Fools ( and Love ) won't die
by Oneechan94
Summary: This is my re-write to my original fanfic "Fools won't die" with some proper ZoSan pairing :D The plot is about the same but there might be a chance I have to change something to fit into the theme of ZoSan :3
1. Chapter 1

This is my first One Piece-fanfic written over again to a real ZoSan pairing ( I noticed I had lied in the original fic "Fools won't die" so please have mercy on me! :D ) I did more grammar and vocabulary checks on this piece too :) If you don't like ZoSan, you can read the original one trough my profile :3 The plot is about the same aside from the fact there will be ZoSan pairing and some cuteness :3

Thank you BrainDeadMaggot for reminding me of this idea! :D I had planned to write a new version of this fanfic earlier but I sort of forgot about it when I started to write new ones :D

One Piece belongs to Eichiroo Oda-sama, but the story is mine :)

...

_Sanji thinking_

...

Thousand Sunny was sailing peacefully in a vast ocean. It was a rather beautiful day. Sun was shining and there were no clouds at all in the sky. Everyone was busy doing something. Chopper was preparing new medicines. Nami was making sure the ship would sail to the right direction. Robin was writing notes about what she had learned from the previous island's history. Franky was fixing Sunny so that the ship would be ready if there would be a fight. Usopp was inventing a new weapon, again. Zoro was training in the crow's nest. What about Luffy and Brook then? Well, they were...busy laying around on the grass.

"It is so nice to feel grass ticking my skin...even though I don't have skin to feel tickled! Yohohoho!" Brook laughed.

"Brook, you are so funny!" their captain Luffy laughed next to the skeleton.

Meanwhile Sanji prepared food for everyone but it was a pure miracle how he always found time to prepare something for the ladies too.

"NAMI-CHAN! ROBIN-SWAN!" he shouted from the bottom of his lungs."Here are some strawberry-parfaits for you, my lovely ladies."

"Arigatou, cook-san," Robin said, smiling, sending their cook to the third heaven. "Thank you, Sanji-kun!"

"Anything for you, my ladies!" Sanji shouted and smoke hearts on the air_. I am a lucky guy to have such a beautiful ladies on board!_

"Hey Ero-cook, don't send those disgusting hearts over here, they are making me sick!" Zoro shouted from the crow's nest.

"You have a problem, Marimo-boy?" Sanji answered, slightly irritated by the comment.

"What?! You wanna fight, curly-eyebrowns!?"

"Same goes for you, you Muscle-head! " They both took a gesture they took seconds before they would start fighting.

"Oooh, Sanji and Zoro are going to fight!" Luffy shouted, smirking widely.

"Don't destroy our ship!" Franky shouted from below the deck.

"It's useless, Franky. You can't stop them now. Captain, do something!" Usopp begged.

"Why? It looks fun!" Luffy snickered, waiting when the fight would begin.

"No it isn't! They will break the ship!" Usopp cried, but nobody heard him. The situation seemed pretty doomed, but then Nami came and gave them both a good punch to their heads.

"WE ARE SHORT OF MONEY, SO DON'T BREAK OUR SHIP, YOU FOOLS!"

Moments like these made whole Strawhat crew wonder if Nami should have bounty higher than Luffy's.

...

They saw the storm coming. They had no chance to avoid it,the surprise it had been, so they had to be ready to face it.

"Everyone, do your jobs!" Nami shouted and everyone did what they were told to. It was hard to believe that just a couple of minutes ago there had been a fight, and now everyone was working together to keep each other safe. Yes, even Marimo and Ero-cook worked together. They saw water starting to rise and wind started to blow harder but thanks to their navigator, they were well prepared before the storm hit them.

"Hold onto something, and do not fall over to the sea!" Nami yelled again, hoping everyone was clever enough to catch a firm hold of something even without her telling it. Well, this was Strawhat crew after all and pretty much anything was possible.

"Yaaaaaaaayyyyyyyy!" Luffy shouted. He was probably the only one who was having fun in this disaster.

That's our captain, he doesn't even realise he is a hammer and if he drops in to the stormy waters, he might lose his life!"

...

When the storm ended, everyone was soaking wet. Luffy was just happy that he didn't need shower, but when did he even use shower? Chopper's fur was a mess and the ladies...How lovely did they look, even all messy! But the gentleman he was, Sanji went down to pick some towels for ladies.

"Here are some towels for you, my lovely ladies!" Sanji said while offering them their towels.

"Ah, Sanji, why did you get towels only for Nami and Robin?" Luffy complained in his usual tone.

"No towels for you! Go get towels by yourself! And LUFFY DON'T EVEN THINK ABOUT TAKING THE CHANCE AND STEALING FOOD FROM THE KITCHEN!" Sanji shouted when he saw Luffy going straight to kitchen.

"But Sanji, I am hungry!" Luffy whined.

"Yeah, me too!" Chopper joined their captain.

"Yosh, great Usopp-sama will give you food! I am the hero after all!" Usopp vowed and got approving cheers from everyone else expect their chef.

"Yosh! I am counting on you, Usopp-sama!" Luffy and Chopper cheered.

"NO-ONE IS MAKING ANYTHING!" Sanji shouted and kicked Usopp and Luffy further from the kitchen," Wait at least an hour, I will make something. But ladies first!"

"Am I a lady?" Luffy asked stupidly.

"No, you are an idiot", Chopper diagnosed,"A idiot among idiots." Maybe Chopper should really invent a medicine for idiots, while there was so many idiots on board.

...

After Sanji had provided everyone with dinner, they started again doing something they thought was important again. Luffy was laying on the grass again, saying that he is their captain so he has the right to not to do anything. It was a lost fight. Sanji was cleaning kitchen because as usual, Luffy had stuffed his mouth full of food and then coughed half of it on the walls, tables and to others faces. It was a real mess. But it was good that Sanji got something to do, because otherwise he would only flirt with the girls or pick up a fight with that Marimo-bastard.

Sanji felt a painful bruise appearing on his back. _Must have hit it in the storm. Probably when I flung towards our mast. I don't know if it is a good or bad think that our Sunny is so strong!_ Sanji kept himself occupied with the cleaning and failed to notice one Marimo making his way to sake bottles. Just when Zoro was trying to slip out of Sanji's sight with a bottle of sake, Sanji noticed him and shouted

"WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU ARE GOING TO DO WITH THAT SAKE, MARIMO!" Zoro stopped and grinned a little "Drink it, of course. What else?"

Sanji felt anger rising and blush making its way to his face but tried to keep himself calm "Don't play dumb with me! Give it back, okay? I am asking nicely here, aren't I?"

Zoro didn't know how to respond. It was confusing. Ero-cook was asking something nicely from him, of all people?

"Did you hit your head in the storm or what's wrong with you? If you want to have it back you better fight for it." Zoro announced and turned, back facing the chef. For his surprise, Sanji didn't react how he expected him to react. He just stood there and watched when his precious sake was taken away by some random idiot. Zoro felt frustfrated.

"Are you really okay with this? Your sake is drinken by Muscle-head." Zoro asked, a little curious about Sanji's reaction.

"I don't have energy to fight you at the moment, so just take it and drink it! But there won't be another chance!" Sanji said, looking at the floor. He had lost a fight. He had lost a fight against a plant.

Zoro was, to his own surprise, a little worried about the cook He went to crows nest to have a drink, thinking about the scene before. Sake was as good as always, but Sanji's actions were disturbing Zoro. Zoro told his head to shut up and not to worry over nothing, besides, there was nothing he could do. It would feel really stupid to just go down there and ask if there was something wrong with Sanji.

A little after he finished drinking, the ship swayed harshly.

"What is it?A fight?!" Sanji shouted. _Shit I am not in a condition to fight!_

"There is a pirate ship closing in on behind! We should take the ship to the shore of that island and fight them in there, not in the ship!" Franky suggested and Nami was supporting the idea.

"Yosh! We don't have any money to waste so lets fight them elsewhere!" Nami shouted,"And Zoro, Luffy, where you think you are going!?"

"Well, there is a fight?" both answered at the same time.

"At least wait till we get the ship somewhere safe!" she yelled, but got an idea," No, I have got better idea! Just go already to the island! You have to lure them to come at you! Your faces are the famous ones, so Luffy, Zoro and Sanji should go already! We will hide the ship!"

"Nami-chan, I would like to stay here and protect you from those enemies!" Sanji suggested quickly. Even though he wasn't feeling too well he still insisted on protecting his lovely ladies.

"You scared of a fight, Ero-Cook?" Zoro said and Sanji landed an immediate kick on his head.

"Me? Scared of fight? You will see! I will outrank you this time!" Sanji sweared and jumped on the air, using skywalk to rise up and get the enemy's attention. And he really did get the enemy's attention.

...

**Author's note:**

yay, how did I do? :D I just changed some parts of the story, added something to fit the ZoSan theme and so on...and fixed my own mistakes -.-' I think I have gotten better in English ;)


	2. Chapter 2

Okay, here goes my another chapter :) I hope to receive comments :3 ( Yes this is exact same line I used in the original fic :_D But it felt nice so I didn't feel like changing it! :D )

I will publish these chapters as soon as I have checked them for mistakes, done some changes and added something to fit the story :) I didn't want to change it too much so it might feel somehow clumsy but anyways, here it goes :D

_Sanji thinking_

...

"Me? Scared of fight? You will see! I will outrank you this time!" Sanji sweared and jumped on the air using skywalk to rise up and get the enemy's attention. And he really did get their attention.

"I will try to destroy their ship so they have to run ashore!" Sanji announced and attacked the enemy ship from the air.

_This is too easy. There has to be some trick because well, this is New World after all..._

...

Everyone was trying to get Sunny safe. Sanji managed to attract enemies attention to himself as they tried to shoot him down. Soon they had to run ashore just like Sanji had planned and they got to fight them on a steady ground. Zoro and Luffy attacked enemies straight away and didn't give them any time to prepare themself. Sanji stayed in the air so that he could see everyone and help if needed.

He watched the enemy ship and saw more enemies coming from below the deck, all going to fight Luffy and Zoro. Others had taken Sunny to safe and they joined the fight too. At first, Luffy didn't notice his nakamas and almost hit Usopp with gigant pistol. Luckily, Usopp had a Impact Dial just then and he absorded Luffys attack. It was a close call, but we know how lucky Strawhats have been, don't we?

"Gomenne, Usoppu!" Luffy shouted and managed to smile a smile that was at the same time apologising but at the same time really gleeful smile.

Usopp started to shoot enemies and Franky was boasting with his beams as usual. Robin was taking a peek inside the enemy ship with her hana-hana-no mi powers and Nami was covering her back with Brook. Chopper was hitting enemies while in heavy point and keeping an eye on his nakama - who knew if someone would be injured in the middle of the fight and needed some first-aid. Zoro and Luffy was fighting an all-out fight and Sanji was still floating about 200 meters above them_. _

_Shit, if I won't do something the shitty marimo is gonna win again!_

"Luffy, there are still three enemies inside the enemy ship!" Robin shouted, trying to get her voice heard,"and if I recognised them correctly, they are all pirates with bounty over 100 million!"

Luffy turned and smiled "That sounds like fun!"

Then they heard a scream and saw how their cook disappeared below water surface

...

Sanji didn't know what had hit him. He only saw a quick glimbse and then he was already underwater. His lungs were screaming from pain, he had to get back to the surface but he didn't have any energy to swim. _Shit! _He had only felt a strong arm hit him hard straight to his already bruised back.

_I have to calm down, even though I can't move!_

He felt his body getting tired and he didn't have enough oxygen. He had to breathe...

_No way I am going to give up! Blue walk!_

Sanji sprung back to the surface and took a painful breath. His body was hurting like hell and even breathing was rather hard.

_How did I mess up like that? Not noticing the enemy attack? Or was there stronger enemies still on board as I suspected?_

Sanji took a look around him. He had flown further from the island and he should swim back to fight with others.

"Don't worry about Ero-cook, he can take care of himself!" he heard Zoro yelling somewhere.

"But we have to do something!" Nami shouted in a slight panic.

_No way I am going to make a lady worried!_

Sanji used sky walk again to soar back to the sky. "Nami-chan! Are you okay?" Sanji shouted, even though it hurted a lot.

"Don't worry about us, it was you we were worried about!" Nami answered, her voice shaking a little bit_. _

_I made her worry...shame on me!_

"Hey Curly-eyebrowns, just get back to fight if you were going to outrank me!" Zoro yelled teasingly.

"Of course, don't think I have forgotten, Marimo! " Sanji returned the insult and headed towards the enemy ship. His back was hurting, a lot, but he couldn't give up in front of Zoro.

"Cook-san, be careful, there are pirates over 100 million bounties over there!" Robin informed and Sanji gave her a treasuring smile. " I will, take care my love!"

...

Something happened.

Of course the idiots had failed to notice that one enemy had devil fruit powers. Why did the strongest ones have to be idiots?!

"Luffy, Zoro, what's wrong with you?!" Chopper shouted and knelt next to their unconcious nakama. Just a second ago they were fighting, and now this! What was going on?

Man with biggest bounty on his head and also the devil fruit user, laughed.

"Surprised, aren't you? I took two of your strongest nakama out of the game with just one finger!" Sanji stared at the man and then at his unconcious nakama. The usual grin had disappeared from the swordman's face and he layed perfectly still on the ground, not moving a muscle.

The man was about 30-years old, very masculine and he had many scars covering his face. His hair was spiky short and black and his eyes were sharp. Just one look was enough for Sanji to tell the man was strong. Stronger than he should be able to fight.

_This isn't good!_

"Chopper, do you have any ideas what his devil fruit power would be?" Sanji asked because there was no way he was going to fight a devil fruit user without knowing at least little about his abilities, at least not in his condition.

"I can't say for sure, but it looks like they are sort of paralyzed. His power might be something which allows him to control some body function so do not let him touch you, no matter what!"

Sanji took a look at the situation_. This is no good_. Those two idiots were out of the game and he was the only member of monster trio to fight such a monster. He had to analyze the situation.

"Okay, Chopper and Robin, you take those two idiots back to the ship. Franky, you prepare Sunny, we are leaving! Nami, go back to the ship and be ready to navigate our ship out of here! Brook and Usopp, give me a hand here, you can handle those without bounty!" Sanji ordered and felt actually pretty proud of himself. He didn't want to give such a responsibilty to Nami who usually took care of situations such as this.

"Sanji, you don't mean you are going to fight those monsters alone?!" Usopp gasped, not really sure if he had heard right.

"Well, are you going to handle them? No. I think I can keep them away for a while, so we need to get ready to leave and fast!"

"But Sanji-kun..." Nami started, but was shocked when Sanji interrupted her and shouted

"THERE IS NO OTHER OPTION, HURRY UP!"

...

Everyone did as they were told, even though they would rather like to fight those mosters together. Together they would have a chance even without Zoro and Luffy.

"This is crazy!" Nami shouted. She was really pissed of, angry and worried because of Sanji. She hit Sunny's mast. She was really worried about the blond and knew something was ought to happen but she didn't have much of a choice.

"Don't break our ship, Nami!" Franky asked, a little annoyed at the situation himself too," I know you must feel angry but we have to get out of here! Take the directions for me, will you?" Nami bit her lower lip, cursing slightly before starting to look for directions.

Chopper carried the two idiots to his Infirmary and took a quick look at them. Nothing seemed seriously wrong: they were just unconcious. "This is weird", Chopper said out aloud,"they are unconcious, but there is no sign of any kind of hit or something." Robin was silent, probably thinking what had happened in the midst of their fight.

...

"Are you really going to fight us, Black-leg Sanji?"the devil fruit user laughed,"Get real! You see, there are three of us, total bounty over 400 million! And you have got mere 77 million of your head, dead or alive!"

"You should already realise that it has been many years after that bounty! I am no longer the same!" Sanji shouted and tried to sound as convicting as possible. He knew this fight was going to be hard.

_I have to use 'that'...sorry everyone...I am going to be a nuicance but please bear with me, okay?_

Sanji knew what he had to do. There was no chance he could fight long enough to beat these guys. He had to handle them fas, and he knew he had the means to make that happen.

"Usopp!" Sanji called and got the sniper's attention,"You are plenty strong, aren't you? I need you to handle the rest, I will be out of the game soon too."

Usopp looked back at Sanji. Even though he didn't know what that could mean, he knew that Sanji was going to do something which could pay his life. He felt angry: angry with himself not being able to do anything else but watch.

"You can leave the rest to me!" Usopp promised and nodded to Sanji.

_Thank you, Usopp. Hopefully Brook realises he has to take care of Usopp_. Sanji giggled at his own thougths.

Enemies were preparing to attack but so was Sanji. He took a deep breath and his legs rose just a bit above the ground. The fight would last only three seconds and then it was all or nothing. He was preparing to land a first attack. He was mentally preparing himself to face the pain he was going to have after these three seconds.

He took a deep breath.

Another.

Yet another.

"Hell Sprint!"

There was no sign of Sanji.

...

Usopp looked in amazement when Sanji disappered right in front of his eyes. Usopp and Brook had already finished beating their enemies and waiting for Sanji to end his. "What is going on in here, Usopp-san?" Brook asked.

Usopp was silent for a moment. " I don't know."

Then they saw it. One enemy was down and there was still no sign of Sanji.

"What the - " the other enemy started to curse but lost his balance and soon fell unconcious on the ground. The devil fruit user just stood there, looking like there was something really absurd going on. His eyeballs could have popped out any minute.

"DAMN YOU!" He managed to curse before something, probably Sanji's kick, send him flying towards their ship.

The fight was over, at least from Sanji's part.

It had took a little more than three seconds.

_It hurts._

Sanji came into view as quickly as he had disappeared. He just stood there like a ghost. He was rather pale and his breathing was unstable. He was apparently trying to catch his breath, but it was of no use. He fell to the ground, still struggling to breathe.

"SANJI!" Usopp shouted before he rushed towards Sanji. He was shocked to see Sanji there, laying on the sand and trying to breathe. Sanji was indeed in pain.

Usopp saw it.

The devil fruit user moving.

Standing up, swearing.

Running towards Sanji.

Sanji struggling to breathe.

He didn't want to lose nakama.

...

For once, Usopp was a real hero. He remembered Luffys gigantic pistol and Impact Dial. He had to do it, even if it would cost him an arm or two.

"IMPACT DIAL!" Usopp shouted and hit the dial to the enemys chest. Enemy, a little surprised, looked at Usopp before he was blown away. Usopp screamed in pain and saw Brook running towards them. Well, it would have been a pure miracle if not at least one of his arms hadn't been diclocated since he had used the impact of their captain's gigant pistol.

"Are you okay?! What's wrong with Sanji-san?!" Brook worried.

"Yeah, I am fine, I think I got through with just a dislocated shoulder", Usopp answered, relieved he was still alive,"but I think there is something seriously wrong with Sanji! We have to take him to Chopper, quickly!"

Just when Usopp finished his sentence, Sanji's breathing stopped completely.

...


	3. Chapter 3

Okay, so here is yet another chapter of "Fools and Love won't die" :) Thank you, Kiza Kurosaki for your review! :3

...

They saw how Sanji stopped moving when his breathing stopped after the hard struggle to breath.

"SANJI!" Usopp shouted and knelt next to his nakama whit gritted teeth," We have to take him to Chopper immediately! He doesn't breath!"

Brook lifted Sanji up to his shoulders and they started to run back to the ship. Sanji's unmoving figure made the adrenalin pump in their veins and the worrying thought of loosing him made them run even faster than they had known they were capable of. Well, as if Brook had any adrenalin or any blood veins...

...

"CHOPPER! SANJI NEEDS HELP!" Chopper heard Usopp yelling,"HE ISN'T BREATHING!"

Chopper immediately sprung out of his room. He didn't know what had happened but the moment he saw Sanji's pale face and unmoving chest he started to panic.

"Ca-Ca-Ca-CALL A DOCTOR!"

"THAT'S YOU!" Brook and Usopp shouted in unision.

Brook laid Sanji down on the Sunny's deck and Chopper started to perform Sanji artificial respiration imediately. Nami ran next to Sanji and took a hold of his unmoving hand.

"What happened?" she asked Usopp and Brook. Neither of them said anything. It was difficult enough to see their nakama laying on the deck, unmoving and no breath escaping his lips. His pale skin was covered in sweat and he looked like a corpse. Nami gritted her teeth but she realised soon enough that they still had to get away from there.

"Everyone, we need to get out of the enemy's reach! Their ship is in no condition to sail at the moment so we have to take our leave NOW!" She ordered and Franky went to steer the ship while Nami gave him directions. "PREPARE YOURSELF, EVERYONE!" and then Sunny Go flew up to the sky.

They flew for a couple of miles and then they landed with a soft thud. Everyone was rather exhausted but they were also nervous, still waiting for their cook to start breathing. It was really stressfull to just view how the small doctor tried to get their chef breathing, not being able to do anything.

Suddenly, just after Chopper had thought that the chef would not breath again, Sanji took a painful breath.

"Robin, bring me oxygen mask!" Chopper ordered, "Sanji, can you hear me?"

Sanji kept his eyes closed and still struggled to breathe. He was shaking slightly from the pain and his face started to get it natural colour back.

"Don't talk, okay? Just breathe, we can talk later." Chopper said and put the oxygen mask on Sanji.

Everyone where staring at their chef who had difficulties in breathing but apparently the oxygen mask was at least of some help. Apparently he wasn't fully concious yet but he resbonded to Chopper when the doctor spoke to him.

_It hurts._

_It hurts really much._

_My whole body is in pain!_

"Usopp, Brook, do you know what caused this?" Chopper asked and turned to face the duo.

"Well, I didn't see him to fight, I mean, I couldn't see him so I don't know. But when I saw him again, he had already trouble breathing." Usopp explained, but it didn't make much sense to Chopper.

"But there must be something causing this!" Chopper said in a nervous tone. There was definitely something wrong with Sanji.

Sanji pulled the oxygen mask off and opened his mouth to speak.

"It...it was my...*cough cough* *inhale* forbidden move." he struggled to say," it destroys...some of my blood vessels and cells as well...*breathing*...there is probably inner bleeding also...*cough cough* " Chopper looked at Sanji, terrified look on his face. Only Chopper knew that Sanji had to go through hell if he wanted to survive this.

Sanji stared at Chopper with sad eyes. The small doctor gritted his teeth after seeing the unfamiliar face their chef was making.

"It's okay, Sanji, I will do my best to save you" Chopper assured and insisted Sanji to put the oxygen mask back on "But hey, I think you outranked Zoro this time, didn't you?" he managed to crack a small joke and even Sanji had to smile slightly at the though of how he would tease Zoro afterwards.

...

Zoro and Luffy were still laying paralyzed in the infirmary room. They were laying there with restfull expressions on their faces, unknowing of the condition of one of their crew.

Zoro started to stir couple of hours after they had escaped. He rubbed his neck and felt a little light-headed. He groaned slightly with discomfort but didn't complain, the strong-willed swordman he was.

Chopper had finished operating on Sanji so now he was fixing Usopp shoulder. "This might hurt a bit, try to bear with IT!" He said and pulled Usopp's arm back to its place. Usopp bit his teeth together but he didn't shout which was rather unusual. Well, maybe after seeing Sanji struggling for his life, a minor dislocation of shoulder was not so bad.

"Zoro, are you okay?" Chopper asked when he realised the swordman had woken up.

"Yeah, just feeling a little stiff that's all", he answered and met eyes with Usopp," Well, it must have been hell of a fight after we passed out if Usopp is injured!" Zoro laughed but soon noticed that he laughed alone. Chopper and Usopp were oddly silent.

"What's wrong? Did something happen?" Zoro asked even though he knew from their looks that something was definitely wrong. Otherwise they would have laughed with him and cracked a joke or two. But not this time.

"Well, I don't know how to explain this..." Chopper started but was interrupted when Nami rushed in to the room.

"YOU ARE BOTH IDIOTS! AND SANJI TOO! HE IS THE BIGGEST IDIOT OF ALL OF US!" Zoro felt Nami slap him straight across his face,"YOU LET YOUR GUARD DOWN, LOSE TO SOME SMALL FRYES AND NOW..." She broke in tears right in front of Zoro. Chopper kneeled next to Nami and hugged her. Nami punched Chopper's chest for a while before calming down and soon her crying was just silent sobs through Chopper's fur.

It took a while for Nami no calm herself enough to look at Zoro again. The swordman had noticed that their captain was waking up, however, and his full focus was on their captain. "Yahhoo, I am still alive!" Luffy cheered happily.

Everyone looked at him and sighed.

"They are idiots", Nami said and wiped her eyes. It seemed like her sudden outburst had been already forgotten and everyone was trying to think how to tell Zoro, and expecially Luffy, how they had been too close to loose their chef.

Chopper decided they should tell them straight away but was interrupted by Sanji who was laying on the bed behind the curtain.

"Zoro, I won you this time! It was a clear win!" Sanji managed to boast which triggered a coughing fit.

"Shut up Sanji!" Chopper ordered and rushed to Sanji. He was really careful that the others didn't have to see the chef from the other side of the curtain. "I told you not to speak if you don't want to get choked on your own blood!"

Luffy and Zoro stared at each other with confused and even slightly quilty looks on their faces. They stared at others who couldn't bring up the courage to meet their eyes.

"Wha...What's going on here? Why is Sanji sick?" Luffy asked and everyone could sense their captain getting tense. The crew looked at each other, competing who would answer their captain's questions.

"Well..." Usopp finally spoke out. "After you two lost conciousness, the situation looked really bad. There were pirates with high bounties and it looked like a pretty hopeless situation..."

Chopper gave a questioning look to Usopp. "Aren't you forgetting something important? Like you being the hero to save the day?" Chopper asked and Luffy and Zoro's jaws fell.

"It isn't something to boast off with!" Usopp hissed. "I had to do what I had to do! Besides, if Sanji hadn't fough those guys with bounties, there would probably no longer be a crew called as Strawhats!" Usopp reasoned.

Luffy and Zoro shared a look. They couldn't understand how it was possible for Sanji to handle total bounty over 400 million by himself.

Sanji started to cough hard and squeesed his chest. He took a few deep breaths and concentrated on breathing. His body was soon covered with a thick layer of sweat.

"Everyone, get out of here. I have to probably operate him again." Chopper announced and everyone stood up to leave the room. Chopper started to remove Sanji's shirt and almost shouted out aloud when he saw the condition of their cook: his whole body was covered in dark bruises.

...

**Author' note:**

I felt like an idiot after fixing some of my mistakes...I could have never thought that my English would get this much better in a bit more than half a year! :D


	4. Chapter 4

Here is my fourth chapter of this fanfic :3 Hope you like it! :)

_Sanji thinking_

...

"Everyone, get out of here. I have to probably operate on him again." Chopper announced and everyone stood up to leave the room. Chopper started to remove Sanji's shirt and almost shouted out aloud seeing the condition of their cook: his whole body was covered in dark bruises. This wasn't going to be easy.

It took almost three hours for Chopper to finish operating on Sanji. His body had been full of inner bleedings which probably caused some huge pains. He had been vomiting blood and sweating, cursing under his breath. Chopper sometimes wondered how some of his nakama even survived alive those kinds of grand wounds. He had had to put a towel in Sanji's mouth so that Sanji wouldn't bite his tongue off unconsciously. But it was those dark bruises which made him look like someone who was no longer alive.

Chopper gave Sanji the biggest amount of painkillers he could give and left Sanji alone. He could do nothing more for their cook at the moment.

He went to kitchen where everyone was sitting, all silent. When Chopper came in, everyone looked at him. It was their captain who spoke first.

"Chopper, what's wrong? What's going on with Sanji?" Everyone stared at the blue-nosed reindeer who didn't know what to tell them. Of course Sanji wouldn't want to upset his lovely ladies and the crew, but he had to be honest when it was their captain asking.

"I don't know how to say it...he has got serious inner bleedings and it will take a long time for him to be back the way he was", Chopper said, still quite unsure what to say next,"if he can even survive this. I am sorry to say this but...I have never seen anyone of our crew having so close-call, not even Luffy or Zoro." Everyone blinked and turned to stare at the blank space in front of them. Chopper was trying to keep himself calm, he was a doctor after all! Luffy hid his face behind his hat and no-one said anything for a while. Nami was about to cry again but Franky couldn't keep his tears inside like usual. Robin, Usopp and Zoro were silently looking out of the window. Brook was...well, no-one knew what face he was making but we could guess he was wondering if this was going to end well. It was silent until Zoro, to everyone's surprise, spoke out.

"You know Sanji, he won't die or he won't give up so that his ladies won't cry. We are not going to organise funeral just yet, there is still hope as long as he isn't dead. Luffy, you shouldn't get depressed like that, you have a whole crew to look after and everyone else has their jobs too! Now is not time to be like this, we were prepared for these kinds of misfortunes when we became pirates."

Everyone gave Zoro a look telling him to shut his mouth, but then Usopp spoke, smiling a little.

"It feels like miracles could happen when we have just heard Zoro call Sanji by his name!" Zoro punched Usopp to his head but Usopp didn't mind at the moment because the dark tension between everyone had lost.

"Well sorry for remembering that Ero-cook has a name!" Zoro grumbled under his breath.

...

Everyone got out of the kitchen expect Nami and Usopp who began to prepare food when their cook was sleeping in the infirmary. Everyone wanted Chopper to take a break and maybe sleep a little, because a tired doctor could be of no-help if Sanji needed help. They decided someone should be keeping and eye on Sanji all the time so that they could tell the little doctor if his condition would chance. Chopper liked the idea, but then he started to think who would be to keep the first watch. Nami and Usopp was making food, Robin, well, she was a lady and Sanji probably wouldn't like the idea of her watching him in that condition.

Franky had to fix the ship and prepare some more cola if there was a fight coming, Chopper had to take a nap. Luffy was volunteering, but Chopper thought it would be for the best if he could stay on the deck and keep a watch for enemies. Besides, he thought it would be a shock for Luffy to see their chef like that. So only Brook and Zoro were left, but because Brook was a skeleton and therefore couldn't feel the pulse, they decided it was up to Zoro to keep an eye on their chef. Everyone smirked a little at the thought, because,well, they were kind of enemies after all.

Chopper took Zoro to the infirmary and he saw a rare look: Zoro getting emotional. The face he made when he saw their nakama lying there covered in sweat and bandages was something terrifying. Sanji didn't even react when they came in, he was unconscious and his breathing was laboured.

"Is this...normal?" Zoro asked carefully. He couldn't believe that the state the blond was in was nowhere near "normal".

"Yeah, at the moment it is", The doctor spoke. He could see Zoro was really worried, but decided to let it go,"Okay, so please wake me up immediately if his condition chances somehow. Check out for his pulse in every fifteen minutes, okay? And if his breathing starts to sound different don't hesitate to wake me, we have to do everything we can." Little doctor was about to leave but before he left, he said to Zoro: "And you can't take a nap!" Zoro smiled at the comment slightly.

"Don't worry, I won't," Zoro vowed and Chopper excused the room.

...

Zoro had sat in the infirmary for couple of hours. It was rather hard, even for him, to look at their chef. He had managed to stay awake all the time but well, who could sleep if their friend was in pain? He followed the trails of sweat on the blond's skin and checked his pulse even more often than Chopper had told him to.

It was a pure miracle when Zoro noticed that Sanji was starting to stir. He turned his head from the other side to other side, his breathing was changing slightly and his eyelids struggled to open.

_It hurts. Am I alive?_

"Sanji?"

_Whose voice is that?_

"Sanji?"

_No, it can't be neither of my ladies..._

"Sanji? Can you hear me?"

_Okay, I am dead. I must be because Marimo is calling me by my real name. Yeah. Hey, I am sleeping eternal sleep here so don't bother me, Marimo-voice!_

Sanji tried to believe he was dead, but the voice and the feeling of mattress was too real to be dream. He opened his eyes, carefully, and saw Zoro knelt over his bed.

"Sanji?" Zoro asked carefully. He wasn't too sure if their cook was fully conscious or not.

"This...must be...*cough*...a stupid dream...because...because Marimo is calling me Sanji. Tell me, dream boy...when I can wake up from this...*inhale*...ridicilous dream?"

"Okay, I think Chopper gave you good dose of his painkillers. But no, you are wrong, Curly-eyebrowns, this isn't dream. And I am not your 'dream boy', get it?" Zoro spoke, little relieved to see their cook conscious again.

Sanji just stared at Zoro and concentrated on his breathing.

_Something weird is definitely going on!_

Zoro looked at Sanji, questioning look in his eyes.

"Is everyone...?" Sanji asked, hoping that Zoro, the idiot who he was, could understood.

"Everyone is okay, it's you we are worried about. Should I get Chopper here?" Zoro took the hint quickly and answered the unfinished question.

Sanji just nodded slightly.

"Don't die here while I am gone okay?" Zoro said, grinning at the door.

Zoro went to wake up their doctor. The small doctor had been able to sleep for few hours at least but before that, he had operated Sanji almost non-stop.

"Hey, Chopper, Sanji is conscious at the moment, would you like to take a look at him?"

Chopper immediately woke up and looked at Zoro.

"Seriously? I thought he would probably end up in coma but I guess I was wrong."

"Yes you were wrong. Go and take a look at our ero-cook, will you?" Chopper nodded and ran to the infirmary as fast as he could.

...

Chopper gave Sanji a check and was surprised to find out that his condition was already better. Well, at least compared to earlier and to him suspecting that the blond would end up in coma."Miracles can really happen, Usopp..." he said out a loud.

"*cough*...What did you say, Chopper?" Sanji asked and took a deep breath.

"Nothing!" Chopper answered, smiling. He was really happy that the first operation on Sanji had succeeded this well. There was still a chance he would have to operate on him again but his condition was already more stable.

"Okay, Sanji, you are already more or less back to the book of living, but you still need to have bed rest at least for week. And no arguing with me!" Chopper said in an angry tone when he saw Sanji opening his mouth to say something against his orders,"you still have some serious inner bleedings and I don't want your wounds re-open!"

Sanji just gave Chopper an angry look but decided not to complain.

Chopper gave Sanji an oxygen mask so that he could get his strength back at least a little. He also asked Nami to make some vegetable soup for Sanji, flavoured with feminine love. Sanji should eat now when he was feeling well because he needed energy and who knew when he could have another attack.

...

**Author's note:**

I know you must be waiting for the cute stuff but I will add the tension slowly, don't worry! :D Well, the rating of this fic is T so you must have guessed that there won't be any sex but some other cute stuff :3


	5. Chapter 5

Here is yet another chapter of this fanfic :D Sorry for the "long" update, I was on a vacation of some sort of and didn't have a chance to take my computer along :/

...

Sanji stared out of the window. It had already been two days since his last attack. He was already feeling better, but he was hurting all over. Well, it wasn't much of a surprise for Chopper who said Sanji would probably go trough hell during these few days. This far he had been lucky. But well, their whole crew had been surprisingly lucky.

Zoro had been abnormally nice to Sanji and everyone else on board. He kept sure their kitchen would be clean after they had eaten and kept some company to Sanji, who was scared to see his kitchen again when he wasn't taking care of it. Zoro also sharpened Sanji's kitchen knifes so that they would be ready for use when Sanji returned to his work as a chef. There was still a long way to go before Sanji could even think making food again. Chopper said he should rest now or he would rest till the end of his life, meaning he could no longer use his hands if he used them now.

Sanji was really surprised when Zoro skipped his daily naps and came to keep some company to Sanji. It was utterly unbelievable how things had changed between the two men inside short time.

Soon he found out why the green-haired man was so eager to keep him some company: he wanted to know what had happened when he and Luffy had been unconscious. Sanji didn't know why the swordsman had the idea that something specific had happened but he was not going to reveal his actions.

"I told you it isn't that simple! I can't tell you!" Sanji snapped at Zoro, who looked insulted.

"Why? Can't you trust me at least that little? I know we fight a lot but still, you are my nakama." Zoro said calmly.

"There is nothing to talk about! What's done is in the past already." Sanji answered. Hell no he would lose verbal fight against Zoro. They both knew they couldn't have a real fight at the moment. Both were silent for a moment. Then Zoro looked directly into Sanji's eyes and kept an eye contact.

"Sanji, listen to me. I know it must have been hard for you but you should tell at least one crew member what happened, okay? It doesn't have to be me, but someone." Sanji stared back at Zoro, trying to understand what he had said.

"I have nothing to say to a plant like you! GET OUT OF HERE!" Sanji shouted, desperately wanting Zoro to leave him alone for a while. Then Sanji realised maybe he had been too cruel to Zoro, and looked back to Zoro who stood up to leave."Zoro, I ..."

"Okay, I will go so that your blood pressure won't rise too much," Zoro chuckled, at least almost, with a hurt and pitying look in his eyes.

"Zoro, listen..." Sanji tried to say but the door close and Sanji was left alone in the infirmary.

_Shit! Marimo was being nice to me for once and I start to shout at him! I probably owe him an apology..._

...

Zoro was really pissed off. Even though he didn't want to let emotions take over him, he couldn't possibly hide this feeling. Why didn't the cook listen to him? Of course he had been on the verge of dying just few days ago, but it wasn't any reason to yell at Zoro. At least not with that tone in his voice.

He decided to go up to the crow's nest to train. He needed something else to do and think. He was really frustrated when he didn't know how to act and react in situations like that.

...

One day went by and Zoro didn't go back to the infirmary. Sanji was feeling guilty. He shouldn't have been so angry to Marimo, but all the stress and pain made him react stronger than he usually would have.

Chopper came in and made his usual check on Sanji. He noticed something was wrong with Sanji.

"Sanji, is there something bothering you? Does it hurt?" The little reindeer asked carefully.

"Yeah, I am fine. Just bored sitting around in here." Sanji explained and didn't bother to tell what had happened between him and Zoro.

"Well, if you would like, I could ask someone to come here and keep you some company." Chopper offered. Sanji thought it for a moment.

"Yeah, maybe that could be nice."

"Okay, I will ask Luffy because he has wanted to see you the whole time but I thought it wouldn't have been wise when you were...well, you know Luffy..." Chopper said and went out to look for Luffy.

Luffy was really happy to see Sanji was already feeling better. He had the feeling though that there was something bothering their chef but he knew he shouldn't push it.

"Nee Sanji, when are we going to celebrate your recovery?" Luffy asked, smiling. He was probably thinking about some fancy barbeque-party, but just then Chopper barged in and shouted back at Luffy:

"NO PARTIES FOR SANJI FOR A WHILE!"

...

Zoro was training in the crow's nest. He felt like he had to train more and more because he had just lost his concentration in the previous fight and their chef had injured seriously because he had to protect the whole crew. That was not going to happen again. Of course he was also annoyed because he had lost to Sanji.

Zoro wondered what had happened back then but he knew their chef wouldn't talk to him. At least not after the fight they had. Secretly he hoped that the cook would talk to him and say what was in his mind but he knew Sanji wasn't like that.

"Damn that idiot!" Zoro cursed out aloud when he dropped his weight on his toes due to loosing his concentration.

...

Sanji wanted to apologise Zoro for his earlier behavior but Zoro didn't come to pay him a visit and Sanji wasn't allowed to move. Well, of course he could try to sneak out of infirmary but he thought it would be a pain in the ass if Chopper would find out. Maybe he could ask Chopper to find Zoro and ask him to come? No, it would look really pathetic and muscle-head would probably just laugh and say something like "Curly-eyebrowns didn't want my company,and now he sends you here? Don't make me laugh!"

But he had to apologise properly, even if he had to climb up to the crow's nest and drag him down by himself. It felt really stupid to be bothered over something so minor but he knew he had hurt their swordsman.

Sanji decided to wait for a while. His pride didn't allow him to make things so easy for Zoro.

He heard the door open and saw Usopp coming inside.

"Hey Sanji, how are you?" Usopp worried.

"I am already better even though my whole body hurts", Sanji answered and then he remember something,"hey Usopp, did you really save my life? I can't really remember the events but I heard you guys talking."

"Well, you could say that the great hero of the sea, Usopp-sama, came to your rescue in a desperate situation!" Usopp praised himself. Sanji smiled a little at the thought. Then he started to think how in world had Usopp of all people been able to save him?

"Hey Usopp...how did you save me? I remember the big guy getting up so I failed to finish him off completely." Usopp looked at Sanji. He didn't know how to tell him that he had dangered his own life to save Sanji.

"I did it because I had to okay? Don't blame yourself, I survived with only dislocated shoulder! It was thanks to Luffy, he almost hit me before with his gigant pistol and I took the hit with impact dial and used ít to knock the enemy out. Sometimes it is a real miracle how our crew can survive like this." Usopp joked and Sanji laughed a little but started to cough hard. He covered his mouth with his hand to feel warm liquid against his palm.

"Sanji, are you okay?" Usopp asked and stared when there was blood dripping from Sanji's mouth,"Sanji, I will go and fetch Chopper to take a look, okay?" Sanji just nodded in agreement.

Usopp fetched Chopper and they both came to the infirmary soon. Sanji was still coughing, covering his mouth with his left hand. Blood was dripping through his hand and Chopper gave him a worried look.

"I knew you wouldn't heal so soon, even though you said so. Sanji, you have to tell me immediately if something is wrong!" Chopper ranted and gave Sanji a bucket to throw up in. He noticed Sanji was starting to sweat and he touched their chef's forehead slightly.

"Sanji, you have fever. I will give you some more painkillers and something to drop down the fever. Try not to move or cough too hard because we don't want your lugs to collapse and fill up with blood, okay?"

Sanji decided he didn't want to fight the little reindeer so he just nodded slightly.

_Damn my lugs are burning! I can't breath properly!_

Sanji started to shake.

"Hey Sanji, try not to lose your conscious okay? Concentrate on breathing only, don't think about anything else at the moment." Chopper recommended and Sanji did his best to follow doctor's orders.

...


	6. Chapter 6

Here goes chapter six! Please review, I will keep on writing! :D Sorry this chapter took so long and I think the other chapters will take as long as this one since they are harder to work with since I have to add some cute stuff into them .

...

Sanji vomited blood for almost two hours before the attack ended. He was covered in sweat and shaking badly, not being able to control his body and his reactions any longer.

_It feels horrible. I want to rest._

"Sanji, I will give you some sedative so that you can rest, okay? It might feel pretty uncomfortable at first, but try to bear it, okay?I will also put oxygen mask on so that you will have no trouble breathing."Chopper informed Sanji as if he had read the chef's thoughts but Sanji didn't answer. He was ready to fall asleep any moment and a proper night of sleep was more than welcome.

Chopper gave him sedative, put the oxygen mask on Sanji's face and left the infirmary since there was nothing else he could do at the moment but let the blond gather some strength.

...

"Chopper, is Sanji doing alright?" Luffy asked.

"Yeah, he had another attack but I gave him sedative so that he could sleep a little. So please don't fuss around insisting to have your daily extra snack, okay?" Luffy's smile disappeared at the thought of loosing his snack but he promised not to cause any havoc. It was the least he could do for his nakama and nakama was more important than snack. Besides, he needed Sanji to get better soon so that they could celebrate. Celebration always includes food, you know?

...

It was late evening. Zoro was keeping a watch. Everyone else had already went to sleep. It had already been three days after Sanji's second attack and Sanji was already allowed to move a little with walking stick. Well, his latest attempt to walk had ended up on the floor but still, he was making recovery.

Zoro heard door opening and he saw Sanji getting out of the infirmary. They hadn't talked since their fight and maybe they had a chance to fix things between the two of them now.

"What are you doing out here, Ero-cook? You should be resting." Zoro disturbed the silence, trying to lighten the atmosphere with the usual nick-naming.

"I just wanted to have some fresh air that's all." Sanji explained and looked at the horizon. His feet were hurting but he didn't mind the pain: it was much less than it had been couple of days ago and the pain was also an indicator which told him he was pretty much alive.

They stood there in the silence before Sanji spoke.

"Hey Zoro, I am...sorry about the other day. I know I shouldn't have yelled at you. But...I can't tell you. At least not now," Sanji got straight to business.

Zoro looked at Sanji. He couldn't see what face the cook was making.

"It's okay. I am not that fragile, you know? But could you at least tell me, why can't you tell me?" Zoro asked, scared that Sanji would get angry again. But he didn't.

"I don't know why...maybe it's the same what happened to you back in Thriller Bark. You wouldn't like to share it too, would you?" Sanji answered calmly and even in the darkness surrounding them, he saw the green-haired man nod.

They stood there silently for a while before Sanji thought it was a high time for him to return to bed-rest. His feet were starting to ache more than they should and he felt slightly dizzy from standing for too long.

"Okay, I will go back now, have a nice watch", Sanji said,"dream boy~" he added to the end of his sentence with a teaseful sound.

"What was...!" Zoro started but Sanji shut the door behind him before he could finish his sentence. Well, it was a good thing for the stubborn swordsman who didn't need to stand the shame of his rival seeing him blushing even the slightest.

It was good things were starting to get back to normal. Well, at least somehow normal...

...

Sanji was starting to spend more time outside the infirmary room. Next day he went to see his kitchen and was surprised to find it perfectly clean. Even his kitchen knifes had been sharpened and there was no dirty dishes hiding behind closed doors. Chopper rushed in because he though Sanji was making food but was surprised to find our Sanji was obeying his orders.

"This is why you are a better patient than Zoro. You listen to doctor's orders." Sanji chuckled a little.

"Well, I am more intelligent than a plant as you could expect, doctor Chopper" Sanji said smirking.

"Calling me 'doctor' won't make me happy, fool!" Chopper answered smiling while his eyes shut.

Soon Luffy rushed in to the kitchen and shouted "SANJII! MAKE ME FOOD!" and he got a punch to his head from Chopper while Sanji just looked thunderstruck.

Nami came to the kitchen to see what was the ruckus about and tears glistered in her eyes when she saw Sanji there. She gave Sanji a hug and a kiss to his cheek. "Sanji! Are you okay?"

Sanji started to bleed.

He had a nosebleed.

"SANJI! DON'T YOU DARE TO LOSE ANYMORE BLOOD FROM SOME STUPID REASON LIKE THAT!" Chopper shouted angrily but in fact he was pretty happy to see their chef so energetic.

Zoro rushed in and yelled: "IS THE IDIOT BLEEDING AGAIN?" Everyone looked dumbfounded but ended up laughing. Zoro did not understand what was so funny.

"Who is the idiot here?" Nami asked, looking at the monster trio.

Everyone was happy to see their chef out of the infirmary, even though he had some nasty looking bruises in his legs and hands. They decided to celebrate, but then there was the question: who is going to make the food? Sanji said he could give instructions but he would not disobey Chopper's orders. Then Nami reminded everyone that they had no more money so they had to wait for the party up till they would find a treasure.

Sanji was really happy to just be out of the bed so he didn't mind if they celebrated or not. Luffy tried to persuade Nami to have a party but as Luffy said, "Nami is cruel!"

Instead they decided to tell some stories of their past. Of course Usopp got too excited to tell stories of the great warrior Usopp-sama who had killed a humongous sized monster bee with his nose.

"Oi yoi, Usopp, we want to hear realistic stories, not lies only!" Zoro insisted.

"Oi yoi, man, don't be so cruel!" Usopp said, scared at Zoro who had a bored look on his face,"Besides, you were sleeping!"

"I wasn't! I just shut my eyes for a second there!"

"Yes you were! You were snoring!" Usopp argued,"Look who is the liar now!"

"You better watch your mouth, long-nose!" Zoro said and started to chase Usopp.

"LEAVE YOUR SWORDS OUT OF THIS, ZORO-KUN!" Usopp shouted in panic. Everyone laughed. Luckily for Usopp he managed to get away because Zoro got lost - on their own ship.

_Yep, this is how our crew is._

...

**Author's note:**

Hehe, there will be two chapters more and I think in the next chapters there will be some cute stuff :3 I like to give pairings some proper time to develop! :D Or would you like an extra chapter which would go on the story at least slightly? ( This question for those who have read the original one :D )


	7. Chapter 7

I am here again! :D So in this chapter there will be some of this ZoSan pairing but remember that this fic is not yaoi so do not get your hopes up! :D

...

Week went by and Chopper ran Sanji some basic tests.

"It looks like you are going to make a full recovery, but you can't stress yourself too much yet. If you do, you might end up in a wheelchair for the rest of your life. Get it?"

"Yeah, I got it, doctor Chopper" Sanji said, delighted to get his bandages off after a long wait. He stood up and asked Chopper if he could go to the kitchen and do his job as their chef.

"Well, I can't see why you couldn't do it but please be careful and if it starts to hurt or feel weird, tell me immediately." Sanji just nodded because he didn't want to fight their little doctor.

Sanji went to the kitchen and saw Zoro stealing sake as usual.

"Zoro! What do you think you are doing here?"

"Oh, I thought I could take a bottle of saké with me if it is okay to you."

" *sigh*...our crew is full of idiots..."

"What did you say?! Then aren't you one too?!"

"Looking for a fight, Marimo?!"

"Bring it on, Mr Nosebleed!"

They looked at each other but then they realised Chopper would probably kill them both if the started a fight now.

"Could you just wait until dinner okay? I will be done soon enough!"

"Did Chopper gave you his approval?" Zoro asked curiously.

"Yeah", Sanji answered and went to the fridge, opening the door slowly and then suddenly started to gasp for air."WHAT HAS HAPPENED TO MY FRIDGE?!"

...

Sanji soon found out Usopp and Nami had been in charge of making food while he was recovering. Of course he wouldn't blame a lady so Usopp was guilty in his eyes.

"Usopp! You will pay for this!" Sanji shouted,"We are short of supply because you didn't pay attention to what we have and how much!"

"Yeah Usopp! You will pay for this!" Luffy ranted too.

"YOU ATE MOST OF THE FOOD LUFFY SO DON'T BLAME ME!" Usopp yelled trying to stick up for himself. Sanji kicked them both. Chopper shouted at Sanji because he had kicked them even though he wasn't fully healed yet.

"Sanji! You are not allowed to fight yet! Doctor's orders!" Sanji just glared at Chopper.

"Okay, but at any rate we need to get more supplies from the next island okay? Meantime I just have to try to manage..."

Sanji went back to kitchen, feeling really desperate.

_I am out of the kitchen couple of days and they only waste food! How is our crew going to survive?!_

But Sanji didn't have a choice so he tried to make a proper meal for everyone. First he took the ingredients and chopped vegetables.

Everyone were happy to see their chef back to work. Dinner was delicious as always. But well, there was much of ruckus too. Luffy speaking while he had mouth full of food and everyone trying to eat before Luffy would steal their food.

"LUFFY! BEHAVE YOURSELF OR YOU WON'T GET FOOD AT ALL ANYMORE!"

"AAH?! SANJI, DON'T BE SO CRUEL!" Luffy shouted but decided to behave. For a while at least.

After the meal, it was up to Sanji to clean up the mess in the kitchen and wash the dishes. He didn't feel like getting any help since he felt perfectly fine and he really needed to do something to get his mind of things.

Zoro sneaked into the kitchen slowly after everyone else expect their chef had left the kitchen. The blond didn't seem to have noticed him so the green-haired man decided to sneak on the unknowing victim.

"Why do you have to be so stubborn?" Zoro whispered to the blond's ear and pressed his body against Sanji's back. The chef was now stuck between the sink and an idiot.

"Don't scare me like that, you idiotic moss-head!" Sanji cursed but he didn't stop working. "Besides, why did you have to sneak on me like that?! It's damn creepy!"

"Oh really?" Zoro teased with an evil smirk on his face. "But don't try to avoid my question," Zoro reminded the blond that he had asked something and Sanji hid his face behind his bangs. It didn't look like he was going to answer so Zoro bit his neck hard, making a gasp escape Sanji's mouth.

"WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING?!" Sanji cursed while he covered the part of his skin the idiot had bitten on.

"Answer my question or I will do that again, I swear," Zoro threatened confidently.

"Oh, I am so scared! You wouldn't dare to attack an injured person would you?" Sanji teased but soon noticed he was wrong when the swordsman bit him again. "OKAY OKAY STOP IT!" Sanji shouted while rubbing his neck.

There was a moment of silence when neither of them moved a bit or said anything. Both of them stood perfectly still, Zoro waiting for Sanji's answer and Sanji thinking of what to say.

"Why do you have to be like this?!" Sanji asked. "And why you had to bite me?! Chopper will definitely see these bite marks when he checks on me!"

"Well, if that's the only way to get your attention..." Zoro grumbled under his breath. "So...?"

"FINE!" Sanji cursed and swallowed his pride for a while. "I, for once, beat you in a fight and I don't want to look weak straight after my victory is that clear?!" he explained and Zoro nodded silently against the blond's neck, apparently pleased by the answer.

"Glad you forgot your pride for a while, Ero-cook," Zoro grinned.

"Fuck you, moss head," Sanji hissed.

...

The day went by and Sanji started to feel something wasn't quite right. Well, something else than his relationship with the swordsman. Not like he was hurting or anything, but he got a hunch that something was going to happen. But he thought it might have been just his imagination and he let it slide. He was feeling rather tired because he just finished cleaning their kitchen. He went outside and enjoyed the calm wind.

_Damn, I need a smoke. Sanji cursed and took his cigarettes out of his pocket._

He heard the sound of weights being lift from the crow's nest. It was probably Zoro training there. Nami was looking at the log stick and steering their ship. Robin was reading a book at Sunny's deck and Luffy was sitting on top of Lion-chan's head. Everything felt pretty normal but something was off. Maybe he should mention it to their captain? Or maybe not. Luffy would just worry. Well, if Luffy or Zoro hadn't noticed anything then maybe it really was his imagination.

But somehow Sanji knew he was wrong.

...

Luffy noticed something was off. He used haki to check their surroundings but he felt nothing out of ordinary. He thought it was rather weird so he went up to the crow's nest and disturbed Zoro's training.

"Hey, Zoro, have you sensed anything?" He asked carefully.

"No? Why, is there something wrong?"

"I don't know. I just have the feeling."

They were silent for a moment.

"Why not ask our Ero-cook? His kenbunshoku haki is probably stronger than ours." Zoro suggested. He didn't feel like praising the cook but they needed to know if something was off. Luffy thought about it for a second.

"Yosh! I will go and find Sanji!"

Sanji saw Luffy going to the crow's nest and he wondered if something was wrong. Soon Luffy appeared next to him.

"Hey, Sanji, have you sensed anything? I have the feeling something is off." Sanji stared back at their captain. Maybe he had been right?

"Well, I thought something was certainly off but I couldn't say anything for sure." Sanji stated his suspicions and Luffy looked over to horizon,"Why do you ask?"

"I thought I sensed something too only couple of minutes ago but Zoro hadn't sensed anything at all. Maybe we should be on our guards."

"Yeah, maybe that would be wise. Should we warn everyone that something might happen?" Sanji suggested and looked serious.

"Yosh! You tell everyone! And Sanji, if there is a fight try not to exceed your limits okay?Captain orders!" Luffy insisted. Sanji knew he couldn't fight properly yet but he should at least try to stay out of trouble. If the situation would turn upside-down then he wouldn't hesitate to take action.

"I try my best!" Sanji promised and went to look for everyone.

Sanji's search ended up short when their ship started to shake.

...

"What's going on?!" Chopper shouted when he rushed out of the infirmary.

"AN ENEMY ATTACK!" Luffy yelled. It was a pure miracle how not even a minute ago everyone was so laid-back and now they were ready to fight.

The only problem was that they saw not even a single enemy, expect Sanji. Sanji saw those very same enemies he had trouble dealing with standing above them.

"ABOVE!" He shouted to let everyone know enemies location. Everyone looked up and saw their enemies.

"Well well, finally we catched up with you! It would have been a shame to lose to someone with 77 million bounty you know!" The devil fruit user laughed and disappeared only to appear next to Sanji a second later,"But I won't lose again!" he stated and hit Sanji's ribs with his full power and sent him flying. Sanji gasped painfully and tried to catch his breath. He used sky walk to get higher out of the enemy reach.

_Chopper is not gonna like this! Probably four or more of his ribs had broken._

Luffy and Zoro started to attack the enemies with the highest bounties. Others were fighting the weaker enemies and supporting Luffy and Zoro when they had time. Sanji just stood there on the air and kept watch if he would be needed. He would rush to someone's rescue if needed.

But Zoro and Luffy had trouble keeping their own in a battle. They were struggling to cover themselves from attacks. Suddenly Sanji realised one enemy with high bounty was nowhere to be seen.

_Damn, do I have to look for him? _He though for a second and rushed in the battlefield.

"Hey Marimo! Have you seen that one fat enemy with bounty?" Sanji shouted and trying to kick enemies at the same time.

"No!" Zoro answered. They both knew it would be a problem if the enemy would just appear out of nowhere!

They got their answer when Sanji felt a powerful kick hitting his back.

_Shit!_

...


	8. Chapter 8

Okay so sorry it took a bit longer than usual to write a new chapter ( or ratherly fix my old mistakes and change the old story a bit ), there will be one totally new chapter after this chapter so please keep reading and waiting for the last chapter! :D

...

"Hey Marimo! Have you seen that one fat enemy with bounty?" Sanji shouted and trying to kick enemies at the same time. He glanced at the green-haired man's direction and saw the worried look on his rival's face.

"No!" Zoro answered. They both knew it would be a problem if the enemy would just appear out of nowhere!

Then suddenly, Sanji felt a powerful kick hitting his back and he got the answer he was looking for. He heard somebody shouting after him but couldn't recognise the voice in that kind of situation.

_Shit!_

Sanji couldn't breath again and he felt another kick, this time hitting his stomach_. _He didn't have time to regain his composure and fight back with equal force since the first hit had forced the air out of his lungs.

_This isn't going so well !_

He tried to keep his own in a fight but he was losing a big time. He had already had three strong hits and his old injuries hadn't healed completely yet. But he didn't want to lose a fight. Not like this. So he chose the only option he had - Sanji started to fight back.

_I have to win. I have to win and quickly! My body won't hold up for long._

He really tried to finish his enemy off but it was really hard to even dodge all the attacks. Landing few hits on his enemy sounded almost impossible.

Zoro saw Sanji having a hard time fighting his enemy. He saw Sanji gritting his teeth and sweating and probably cursing under his breath like usual. He realised someone should help the blond before the cook would do something extremely stupid again. He took a look around him while his enemy was cursing under his breaths.

Luffy had also hard time fighting the devil fruit user. Apparently his ability caused trouble, but it would have been easier to encounter his attacks if they knew his powers. Last time they had lost conciousness after one slight touch so Luffy couldn't let his enemy touch him. Meaning he couldn't fight properly. Others had almost finished their enemies. Zoro saw Brook standing on the background with Usopp, who was holding his shoulder.

"BROOK!" Zoro yelled and when Brook looked at his direction, Zoro nodded to Sanji's direction.

"Leave it to me, Zoro-san!" Brook shouted and left Usopp alone.

Brook reached Sanji soon and saw how the blond was fighting to take few calm breaths and stand straight.

"Sanji-san, are you okay?!" Brook asked after he had sliced the enemy once. He knew that wouldn't be enough to stop him but it was enough to slow him down.

"Yeah, I am fine, for now at least." Sanji admitted, "I know it isn't typical for me to ask for favours, but could you lend me a hand here?"

Brook looked kind of surprised - well, even though you can never be quite sure of his looks - but was also worried because it wasn't typical for Sanji to ask for help.

"Of course! Let me handle this guy - " He tried to say but was interrupted when Sanji fell on the ground. "Sanji-san!" Brook shouted but decided to focus on the fight. He should beat this guy before he could help Sanji because he doubted their enemies would give him enough time to take Sanji away from the battlefield.

"Okay, I will handle you quickly if it is okay to you?" Brook asked and his enemy laughed.

"Me? Getting beaten up by skeleton? Don't make me laugh!" Brook felt insulted.

"JUST BECAUSE YOU HAPPEN TO HAVE MORE FLESH DOESN'T MEAN YOU COULD WIN ME!"

Luffy lost his sight of the devil fruit user for a while and the next moment his enemy was attacking their already unconscious chef and left Brook staring at the scene but not being able to help since he had to take care of his enemy.

"WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU ARE DOING!?" Luffy shouted when he saw his nakama being attacked. Zoro also noticed the situation and ended his fight quickly to help their chef.

"I WILL GET MY REVENGE! HE SPOILED IT ALL, IT'S ALL HIS FAULT THAT WE COULDN'T WIN BACK THEN!" the devil fruit user shouted angrily, "I WILL KILL HIM, I WILL KILL YOU ALL!" their enemy was getting really pissed off - he was loosing his temper and usually it meant that he wouldn't be able to focus on the fight so well when all he thought was revenge. He punched Sanji directly on his chest and the cook started to cough violently. His breathing was really ragged.

The enemy felt a thunder strike his back. Nami was standing behind him, using thunder tempo. She stood there, shaking slightly but not even considering of backing off from the situation.

"GET AWAY FROM HIM!" Nami shouted desperately, tears flooding from her eyes. The enemy didn't hesitate to punch Nami, even though she was a lady, and Nami was sent flying.

"NAMI!" Luffy shouted and went to grab Nami before she would hit their mast.

Sanji heard Nami screaming trough his unconsciousness. He heard her desperate voice and tears falling down.

_Danm! I can't let a lady suffer because of me!_

He tried to stand up, but it felt like he was unable to move. He didn't have any power in his limbs and he felt utterly powerless. If he could just continue his bitter sleep...

_No way! It can't end like this!_

His whole body was hurting. A painful bruise was already appearing on his back and his ribs shouted for mercy. His lungs were on fire and every breath felt like it could burn his lungs to dust.

_I am not a shitty punching bag!_

Sanji stood up regardless of all the pain. He was going to fight even though he would have to use his forbidden move again. He knew it was going to hurt but he got to finish this. Everyone were too emotional to win this fight like this.

"What, are you still going to fight, Blackleg?" the devil fruit user asked. Sanji spitted up some blood, trying to act as calmly as possible to calm down his fellow crewmates.

"Yeah", he said, putting it as simply as he could. He was not going to argue with an enemy or try to chat with him any longer than he had to.

"Hey, cook-" Zoro tried to shout but Sanji interrupted him.

"Zoro, your task is to keep everyone out of my way! I will finish him in two seconds! CHOPPER! I am sorry I couldn't keep my promise, but I promise I won't die!"

Zoro would have wanted to take part in the fight but decided to stay out of it. Luffy gritted his teeth and squeezed his hands in a fist. Chopper nodded but he really doubted if Sanji could really survive another fatal fight. But the only option he had was to trust his nakama even though he doubted their health.

Sanji took a gesture and thought for a second. _Where should he hit his enemy so that it would take only a one hit?_

"What's wrong? Aren't you going to attack me?" the enemy said, trying to anger him, but Sanji kept his calm. Everyone was looking at him, measuring him and trying to figure out what the blond was thinking but they couldn't.

Then Sanji took a deep breath and the Strawhats found themselves holding their breaths.

Another.

Yet another.

"HELL SPRINT!"

He disappeared out of the sight and soon appeared behind his enemy's back. He was targeting his neck.

"TAKE THIS!" Sanji shouted and kicked the enemy with all he got. The enemy fell dead on the ground and they never got the chance to figure out his devil fruit powers.

They heard a soft thud behind their backs and saw their chef fallen on the ground.

"SANJI!" Luffy and Chopper shouted and rushed next to Sanji. Everyone gathered around Sanji and looked at their chef who was visibly in pain. Chopper was really worried if Sanji stopped breathing again in front of everyone, but to his surprise Sanji was fully conscious. He looked at Nami who was leaning to Luffy.

"Sorry, Nami-san..." Sanji whispered and coughed some blood but the navigator only shoke her head and smiled slightly at the blond.

"Try not to speak, fool!" Chopper shouted angrily. Sanji looked calmly at Chopper and the little doctor started to wonder what his patient was thinking about.

"Hey, Chopper...did you know...I have been thinking...our crew has been unbelievable lucky during our adventures...*cough*...it feels like it has been a pure miracle...that our crew... has survived this long...but why...why are we still alive, Chopper?"

"Did he hit his head? He has some really deep thoughts." Zoro joked and tried to lighten up the atmosphere. Sanji just stared at Zoro.

"Well, I guess a plant like you...*cough* isn't able to think deeply?" Sanji insulted.

"What was that?!" Zoro shouted but wasn't really feeling insulted. He felt only happy that their chef was joking and insulting as usual even though he had some serious injuries.

"But did you know...our crew is full of fools...and fools won't die." Sanji said and started to laugh but ended up coughing. Chopper was fussing around him but Sanji tried to convince him their chef wasn't going to die anytime soon.

...

Everyone else had survived the fight without any vital injuries so Chopper had only Sanji to worry about. The blond had suffered a great deal of damage inside a short time but it was not like it was something unusual for the members of the Strawhat crew. But because their chef had been more or less out of work, their captain was getting restless and he entertained himself by doing anything stupid he could come up with.

_That's our captain..._Sanji though by himself when he heard another splash of water and figured it was probably their captain who had fallen off the deck again.

Soon the swordsman appeared to the infirmary where Sanji was resting, dragging their powerless captain along. "Chopper, please give him something to calm him down or make him less of an idiot!" Zoro grumbled and Chopper sighed at the sight.

"Zoro, I have yet to succeed in creating a medicine for idiots but I have something to calm him down," Chopper offered and bend down near to Luffy's ear to whisper something which was left unheard to the rival duo.

"REALLY?!" Luffy raised his head, smiling brightly before escaping from Zoro's reach and rushing out of the infirmary.

"What did you say to him?" Zoro inquired.

"Professional secrets," Chopper smirked. "But he should be fine now, don't worry," Chopper vowed and took a quick look at his book before remembering something. "Hey Zoro, could you watch after Sanji for a while so that I can take a look at Usopp's arm?"

"Of course, Love-Cook is not going anywhere," Zoro smirked and Sanji grumbled something under his breath, probably to argue with the green-haired idiot.

...

**Author's note:**

Okay so I will do my best to finish the last chapter as soon as possible, please review and tell your opinion and thoughts to me! :D The last chapter will probably be a bit longer than the earlier chapters but we will see how it goes on ;)


	9. Chapter 9

Yay, the last chapter! :D I am happy that I am finally finished with this story! :) Please review and tell me your last opinion and especially those of you who have read the original too, has my writing gotten any better? :D

...

"Hey Zoro, could you watch after Sanji for a while so that I can take a look at Usopp's arm?"

"Of course, Love-Cook is not going anywhere," Zoro smirked and Sanji grumbled something under his breath, probably to argue with the green-haired idiot. "Did you have something to say?" he inquired with a slight smirk on his face.

"Nah," Sanji sighed. "I was just wondering why I need one baby-Marimo to babysit me..."

"You are being the baby here, cook," Zoro noted and there was a short silence.

"Just between you and me but...those sorts of lines could be called as 'flirting' if it wasn't you saying those lines..." Sanji stated and snickered slightly when he saw a vein popping on the swordsman's forehead.

"What if it was?" Zoro asked while raising brow and trying his best to hide his annoyance.

"Then I would say you have gone completely mad, Marimo-kun," Sanji noted and pulled out one of his cigarettes and lit it even though he knew he would soon meet the rage of one angered doctor for smoking indoors.

_What's up with him today...?_ Sanji wondered by himself when the silence hit the small room for a while.

"Chopper won't like you smoking in his infirmary," Zoro noted casually but made no move to stop the blond from smoking.

"I know," Sanji said silently, blowing some smoke right to the green-haired man's face to have some sort of reaction.

"Don't do that, my eyes sting," Zoro grumbled and Sanji smirked, repeating his former action.

"What? Can't take a little smoke in your eyes?" Sanji teased but decided not to anger his rival any further.

But what happened next, surprised Sanji and would have surprised the whole crew if they knew. Just when Sanji was to take another drag of his cigarette, the hand which was holding the cigarette was pushed away and the warm lips of a certain swordsman covered his own.

The kiss was slow and sensual but nothing like Sanji had felt before. It was more demanding and nothing like the gentle kisses he had received during his youth. It didn't taste of perfumes,flowers and delicateness, it was more like the taste of steel, alcohol and sweat mixed in together. And the blond could do nothing else but admit that he liked it.

Soon the swordsman pulled away from the kiss to see a slightly blushing face of the blond who stared at him with wide eyes.

"What if it was flirt?" Zoro repeated his earlier question and Sanji lowered his look on the floor, trying his hardest to hide the blush with crept across his face.

"Why...why?" Sanji staggered, a bit confused by the whole situation they had in hand there.

Zoro sighed deeply and rubbed his neck. "I...am not too sure about it myself..." the green-haired man admitted and sighed even deeper. "I just...sort of found myself fond on you and hating you take those sips of toxic right into your lungs," Zoro did his best to explain himself but he wasn't really good at speaking with words. The usually calm swordsman rubbed his neck awkwardly, slight blush on his face.

"Hmm," Sanji voiced quietly, unsure of what to say next. "But why me? I mean, I am ladies-man and completely annoying bastard, right?" Sanji explained and Zoro grinned slightly at the question.

"Women are boring," he stated bluntly and received a cold look from the chef. "They just wait for men to show them some affection and they expect us to treat them like delicate flowers. But you..." Zoro said and circled some of Sanji's hair around his forefinger and then pulling slightly. "...are not like that. I don't need some woman to take care of, I need a partner which makes my adrenaline flow in my veins. And I will never know if some action of mine will earn me a preach or a kick to my head when it's you."

"Eh, hooked on adrenaline are we?" Sanji smirked, meeting the swordsman's serious eyes.

"Hadn't noticed?" Zoro mocked and Sanji kicked the swordsman's stomach with his raised knee.

For a while there was a silence when Sanji thought of how to response to the swordsman's sudden confession. Even though the thought had never sprung to his mind, it didn't feel complete alien to him: it felt almost pleasant.

"Zoro, did you know that..." Sanji said quietly, pulling the man a bit closer to whisper to his ear. "...I too, like to live dangerously."

The two men smirked at each other but it was not the usual creepy smile which they usually wore.

...

One week after their fight Sanji was back to his work as their chef. Everyone was keeping an eye on their chef to make sure he wouldn't push himself too far. But Sanji knew his limits and didn't want his nakama to worry so he spend a lot of time resting and planning new recipes.

Chopper was surprised to see Sanji getting better so soon again. He though his injuries would take a lot of time to heal, but he was wrong.

"Maybe you have become a better doctor?" Sanji suggested and Chopper tried to hide his feeling of happiness and embarrassment. Chopper wasn't really good at reacting to compliments and everyone knew that expect the little doctor himself.

Sanji was preparing some dinner as usual when Zoro walked into the kitchen.

"Did you come to steal my precious sake again?" Sanji asked. He was really getting tired of trying to protect their food and drink supplies.

"Actually no", Zoro answered to Sanji's surprise even though he doubted if Zoro was being honest with him," I just came to see if there was anything I could do to help you." Sanji almost dropped his knife hearing this. Well, of course he had noticed how much more considerate the swordsman had been after their last fight but it never failed to surprise him.

"What?!" He asked, confused by the sudden consideration their swordsman was showing.

"Yeah?" Zoro said with stupid grin on his face.

"Are you picking a fight with me?"

"Not exactly but if you are then I don't have any reason not to fight."

"So you are picking up a fight!"

"You are getting on my nerves, Ero-cook!"

"Same goes for you, Marimo-head!"

They stared at each other and just when Chopper rushed into the kitchen because he thought there would be a forbidden fight for Sanji, he was surprised to see both men smiling and soon laughing hard and trying to breathe.

"You guys, what is going on in here?" Chopper asked and couldn't believe his eyes. Soon everyone else rushed into the kitchen too and were rather surprised to see Sanji and Zoro laughing together.

"Really, these idiots!" Nami said and smiled. Robin just chuckled and gave Zoro and Sanji a knowing smile.

Nothing had changed even after their sort of "confessions" to each other and that's how it should be.

...

**Author's note:**

Yay, finally finished! :D This extra chapter was fun to write, I really enjoyed it!


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